China hikes defence budget by $ 115.7 billion

Beijing: China on Tuesday hiked its defence budget by a whopping 10.7 percent to USD 115.7 billion, amid the communist giant’s military ambitions and territorial disputes with neighbours.
China spent USD 106.4 billion on national defence in 2012, an increase of 11.5 percent than the previous year, making it one of the world’s top defence spenders. Outgoing Premier Wen also presented a lengthy work report on the decade old achievements of his government. The double-digit hike comes at a time when China is rapidly modernizing its armed forces in the backdrop of deepening standoff with Japan over the disputed islands as well as differences with several South East Asian Countries over the South China Sea.
China has already launched its first aircraft carrier last year as well as several versions of new fighter jets including a stealth fighter bracing to deal with big US military push into Asia Pacific. Internally too China faced host of challenges especially in Xinjiang and Tibet where anti-China protests were on increase. Also the Chinese main land has witnessed several protests in recent years over a host of issues, including wage revisions and growing disparities between rich and poor.
“The PLA is at a stage of intensifying efforts to accomplish the dual historic tasks of military mechanization and full IT application. It is a critical moment that calls for greater defence expenditure,” Yin said. Xi, who took over as the chief of Chinese military succeeding outgoing President Hu Jintao, has ordered the 2.3 million strong PLA to intensify its “real combat” awareness in order to sustain military readiness.
In recent years, China’s military spending amounted to about 1.6 percent of its GDP. The ratio was less than that of the United States, Britain and many other countries, the Xinhua report said. Fu said China’s participation in UN peacekeeping missions and anti-piracy patrols showed that its military was promoting global peace and stability. “Overseas military missions are often several times, or even dozens of times, more costly than domestic ones,” Fu said.